C56 Dao Xiaotong's Cooking Skills

This year's autumn tea is growing pretty well, the terraces are climbing up, and the mountains are full of green machines. The dried leaves released a strong scent of tea, which covered the entire Mengla County and the entire Great Tea Mountain Range. It made people feel as if they were in a kingdom of tea, the world of tea. The sea of tea, the paradise of tea.

In front of the small hanging bamboo house, Dao Xiaotong used her hands to stroke the back of her hand. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. The weather was hot, and she was preparing for lunch. She was wearing an apron, and her mind was filled with delicious food. She smelled the aroma of the tea from the tens of thousands of tea fields in Dai Village. The aroma rose into the air and drifted all the way to the north.

She put her hand on the awning and looked towards the endless mountains in the north. Around the mountains were terraces that the Dai people had reclaimed. They were hundreds of acres, thousands of acres, and tens of thousands of acres. This was the land that the Dai people relied on to survive. The tea leaves could be picked, and the sticky rice had also matured. It was the season of a great harvest. She sighed with joy on her face.

Due to the direct influence of the Beijing Olympic Games, this year, the price of the tea merchants coming to Dai Village doubled. At the same time, the demand for tea increased. This made it much easier for the tea farmers in Dai Village to live a full and warm life compared to the previous years.

When the businessmen from Na Province collected tea, they couldn't help but joke, Well, it's probably because the people are sitting at home with fans blowing on them, watching the Olympic Games and drinking green tea. Life is getting better. When people are free, they either drink or drink tea.

Dao Xiaotong had always been in charge of the miscellaneous things in Da Tea Village Primary School. Occasionally, she would help Tao Huizhen substitute for the class. Most of the time, she only acted as a capable assistant. Sometimes, she would sew and mend her legs. She would do some dirty work and work tirelessly to get a full meal. There was also the $30 compensation fee. For example, Tao Huizhen, Elder Li, and her own three meals a day. . . These were all solved by her. She was very good at cooking and had a pair of delicate hands. Her movements were also very swift. But cutting clothes was not enough, cutting clothes took her more time than others. . . One needle and one thread could not be sloppy. She could always cut the tube-shaped skirt like a piece of art. At the same time, it was also durable and durable.

Dao Xiaotong imagined what the tea seller had said. She also recalled the questions about tea in her mind. She had unknowingly prepared the cooking work by her side. In another hour, Teacher Tao would be giving the children lunch break. At that time, Teacher Tao would come here in a hurry to have lunch. After that, he would make use of this time to read the newspaper. The children would bring their own food. Some would also go home to eat. Sometimes, Elder Lee would also come to Little Bamboo to fill his stomach before going back to work. Sometimes, Elder Lee would only come at night. Sometimes, he would not even come for dinner. . .

Speaking of tea, since ancient times, people in China could not leave tea. Tea originated from China. China's tea culture had a long history and was extensive and profound. There were countless books and movies about the tea ceremony. The various races also had their own tea culture. The process of making tea and the way to drink tea were full of flaws.

No matter what kind of opportunity it was, the sales of tea leaves in the Dayi Village would be better and the price would rise. This was a great thing for the tea farmers and even for the entire Dayi Village. This was a great thing that could directly affect the survival of the tea farmers in the Dai Village.

Dao Xiaotong used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off her face. No matter what kind of simple task it was, she would do it with all her might. She always thought that people like her. . . It was not easy to get an allowance of tens of yuan and also eat, wear, and warm. This was probably the moment when fate took away everything from her. The 'window' that was opened for her, so she cherished the moment especially. It was also because of this that she felt uneasy. She was afraid of losing him.

With sufficient sunlight, she got busy in the outdoor "kitchen. " The glutinous rice had long been soaked in it. After igniting the stove fire, smoke rose from the outside of the bamboo house. At this moment, time had become long and narrow and slow. It was also a bit leisurely, peaceful, and peaceful.

The washed potatoes were also placed in a pot of glutinous rice. At the same time, Dao Xiaotong did not stop. She cleaned a small piece of pork and cut it into a thin piece of paper. She placed it in a row in the bamboo tube, one in front and one in the back. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Relying on her imagination, they were decorated with sour bamboo shoots. There were pickled vegetables and even more advanced ingredients. At this moment, her thoughts seemed to overlap with a certain moment in the past. She looked at the masterpiece in front of her with satisfaction.

As one of the three people in charge of food in Big Tea Village Primary School, she had long wanted to cook meat dishes once.

Every time she boiled the glutinous rice and washed the potato and put it in the pot, she would constantly fantasize. If there was a piece of good pork, how would she treat it? She had to imagine every step before she could stop. It was not an exaggeration to say that she had already thought of it countless times in her heart. It could be said that she was very familiar with it.

Due to the terrain of the land, the suddenly Laba Dai Village could only open up the mountains. Thus, the terraces became the main form of farmland here. Apart from a small portion of self-sufficient potatoes and glutinous rice planted in the terraces, tea trees were planted all over the mountains and plains. In other words, the livelihood of the people of Dai came from tea trees.

From harvesting tea in the tea fields to producing finished dried tea. It was a nervous and busy cycle. Usually, the shoot that could be chosen was only the top part of a tea tree. But in order to produce the best quality, the tea farmers had no choice but to strive for excellence. However, the cost of such carefully selected raw materials and craftsmanship was very high. A considerable portion of the good tea leaves were discarded. Hence, the saplings that were slightly worse in quality were mostly used as fertilizer for the next season's new tea. A few of them were made into tea leaves by the Dai villagers and left to drink by themselves. In such a situation, This caused a large number of second-rate tea leaves to be discarded and wasted, while the production of high-quality dry tea was lacking. Thus, the income of the Dai villagers naturally could not be increased.

The situation above had become the greatest problem for the Dai village tea farmers in the past few decades.

In front of the small hanging bamboo building. Dao Xiaotong did not put the sliced meat into the pot for a long time. She looked at the pork in the bamboo tube from every angle. The white pork was white, and the red pork was bright red. She couldn't help but think. . . How long has it been since I last ate it? I've completely forgotten the taste of meat. Today, she suddenly had meat, and she almost didn't know what to do. She remembered what Teacher Tao had said. It was just like a beautiful thing. Everyone was trying their best to get close to it. But beautiful things would wear down one's will, making one fall. This was also the reason why she had wanted to buy pork a few times previously. Tao Huizhen did not agree. Tao Huizhen was very clear that. . . The problem wasn't whether or not she could eat this meal of meat, but to completely get rid of the foreign potatoes that were used to feed her hunger. That was the fundamental change. Before that, she would be willing to eat as much foreign food as she wanted.

Yu was known as the food for the poor. In many places, it was the first food to be eaten. Although the glutinous rice was the main food of the Dai people, The bamboo shoots seemed to be inexhaustible as well. But in reality. . . Most of the time, the things that Dao Xiaotong and the other two people used to feed themselves were mostly foreign things. Whether the glutinous rice was enough or not, it did not matter if the glutinous rice was enough. It had become a habit for most of the people in Da Tea Village to cook two foreign potatoes for each meal. As for the Qiuhe family at the end of the village. . . It had been many years since they had started to eat the potatoes. According to what Qiu He herself had said, She didn't even eat the potatoes for a meal, so she left more glutinous rice for her grandparents to eat.

Tao Huizhen knew that what Qiuhe said was the truth. Qiuhe would never lie, and she wasn't afraid to confess her poverty and weakness to others.

Qiu He also emphasized, "You must eat it. You must not let your mouth become greedy. You must eat a potato every meal. Although sometimes your stomach feels very uncomfortable, your stomach also feels uncomfortable. He had to force himself to eat it. Only by eating a potato could he eat other things. This is the rule I set for myself - I'm afraid, I'm afraid, yo. If one day I don't have any glutinous rice to eat, I can only eat potatoes!"

When Tao Huizhen heard what Qiuhe said, her face turned as pale as a sheet of paper. She clenched her fists tightly as if she was suppressing the violent shock in her heart.

She was not feeling pity for Qiuhe's situation. Instead, she was surprised by Qiuhe's ability to control herself, her understanding and reasoning. She had her own understanding of this world and her own experience in life. She had to be careful and tread on thin ice to make a living. She had to think of a way out for the future.

That did not mean that Qiuhe was smarter than others. Rather, it would be better to say that her living environment forced her to do so. Most of the time, it was out of helplessness.

She was not as strong as she looked on the surface. Dao Xiaotong should be able to feel it. Because fate was very similar, she often imagined the situation that Qiuhe was in.